Using a virtual reality interview simulator to explore factors influencing people’s behavior

Virtual reality interview simulator (VRIS) is an effective and valid tool that uses virtual reality technology to train people’s interview skills. Typically, it offers candidates prone to being very nervous during interviews the opportunity to practice interviews in a safe and manageable virtual environment and realistic settings, providing real-time feedback from a virtual interviewer on their performance. It helps interviewees improve their skills, reduce their fears, gain confidence, and minimize the cost and time associated with traditional interview preparation. Yet, the major anxiety-inducing elements remain unknown. During an interview, the anxiety levels, overall experience, and performance of interviewees might be affected by various circumstances. By analyzing electrodermal activity and questionnaire, we investigated the influence of five variables: (I) Realism; (II) Question type; (III) Interviewer attitude; (IV) Timing; and (V) Preparation. As such, an orthogonal design L₈(4¹×2⁴) with eight experiments (OA₈ matrix) was implemented, in which 19 college students took part in the experiments. Considering the anxiety, overall experience, and performance of the interviewees, we found that Question type plays a major role; secondly, Realism, Preparation, and Interviewer attitude all have middle influence; lastly, Timing has little to no impact. Specifically, professional interview questions elicited a greater degree of anxiety than personal ones among the categories of interview questions. This work contributes to our understanding of anxiety-stimulating factors during job interviews in virtual reality and provides cues for designing future VRIS.